Trasverse versus head down baby

Okay all you prayer warriors out there - I went in for my 37 week appointment yesterday to find out that baby boy (who was comfortably in a head down position at 36 weeks) has shifted into a completely transverse position. For those of you that don't know what that is, it means he's completely sideways across my belly versus the head down position he should be settling in to.

Now, I know there's still time, but time is starting to run out as is space! I have been doing everything possible that I know to do to set myself up for a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and was frustrated by this latest piece of information. My midwife informed me that if I did go in to labor on my own and baby was still in a transverse position they would schedule a c-section versus allowing for an external version because of my previous c-section. Again, I know there is still time and I'm trusting the Lord for the ultimate outcome (whatever it is!) but I sure would love to be able to have a successful VBAC...or at least be able to attempt it!

So.......any prayers that you think about, albeit minor in the big picture I know, I would appreciate.

Less than one month and counting...

Less than one month...less than 4 weeks...baby will be here in no time at all! I can't believe it's coming so soon. Well, on one hand I can - because pregnancy is a stinkin' long time, and I think these last four weeks will drag on at times, and fly at others. Either way though, it's coming soon. I have my official last day of work scheduled (April 13th) and an official c-section date scheduled if needed (April 25th) and both of those events let me know it's soon. One more week and it will be April - baby's due date month! And, Christian and I finally decided on a name...progress definitely being made.

I feel pretty good still, though this past week has been rougher than others. For some reason, it feels like I've grown immensely in a short time frame, which I guess makes sense since my baby updates say that baby is putting on lots of weight at this point (joy...). I also measured the same I have throughout my entire pregnancy at my midwife appointment this week, however, and gained nothing in 10 days time. So clearly I'm right where I need to be, but I'm just getting big. That's what pregnancy is in the last month:) The 85 degree heat for the past week and a half has certainly not helped either!

If you compare my pregnancy with Micah and this one, I look to be fairly close in size based on the pictures. I'm consistently measuring about 2 cm smaller each midwife visit, and am probably about 3-5 pounds less, so I'm crossing my fingers that means baby will be a little smaller, but maybe he's just waiting until the last 3+ weeks to catch up:) Time will tell!

The other thing I'm beginning to struggle with a bit is how I'm going to juggle the time with Micah and the newborn. I know it's good, and I'm sure Micah will be a great big brother, but I also question how it will be possible to love this little baby inside of me as much as I love Micah. Moms do it all the time, right? Lots and lots of families are not only child families, and there's clearly a reason for it and a way to function. Lots and lots of moms figure out how to share their love - but I have to believe it grows versus being split. How my heart can grow any bigger is unknown to me, but I know it grew when I met Christian and fell in love with him, and has grown even more since having Micah. It's not like I love Christian any less, now that my love is split between the 2 boys in my life, so I'm sure that just means it's growing even more to make room for the third boy about to enter my life. It's just a crazy thing to think about and a somewhat impossible thing to comprehend until I'm actually placed in that position (which will be sooner than later, I know!).

Look at Momma and her happy little boy...that's about to be a BIG boy. I love this kid so much!

Not to mention, he just loves to ham it up for the camera when he can see himself:)

And what a better way to top off the day than a trip to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather?

Thank you God for blessing me with such an amazing life. I pray I never take it for granted, and even though it's about to become exponentially harder, I feel it's also about to become even more meaningful. I pray I always look for the little things that make me smile and cause me to remember how great You are!

Bubbles!!

My mom brought up a little bubble toy that lost all its juice within an hour of use, so when she went to replace the bubbles, there was a massive replacement available, and of course that is what she picked up. Days upon days of fun are ahead of us now:) Micah quickly learned how produce his own bubbles and "Me help" or "Me do it" quickly became the running theme. Oh well - typical almost 2 year old independence, right? We are certainly looking forward to the summer ahead of us!

I love the pure excitement and emotion that is captured in these bubble pictures!

We decided Micah would not be a good poker player - his face is always showing exactly what he's thinking...good or bad:)

"Where is the Green Sheep?"

Christian and I take full advantage of the library that is less than 5 minutes away from us. Micah loves the books we are able to get, and I love not having to buy and buy various books to keep him entertained. "Where is the Green Sheep?" has taken on an entirely new meaning as Micah talks non-stop through the reading...he's learned quite a few new words. But of course each reading starts off with "orange feet, lellow feet, rye feet, blue feet, purpo feet." It has been a blast watching him through this book, especially with his holding of the hands in a big question saying "Geen feet??!?!" Unfortunately, I've been having trouble getting my videos to load lately, and this one is no different. Take my word, however, if you could see the video you would be impressed:)

Race car fun with Nana Kay :)

Micah had a blast while my mom was here, and driving the race car was no different. Thanks for the ride Nana Kay!

Overnight Date Night!!

There's a first time for everything...

And last night included my first night away from Micah is almost 21 1/2 months - ie, his entire life! I know, I know - it's been a long time coming:) But the first year was very intentional due to the fact that I was nursing and didn't want to deal with the hassle that would bring. Then past his first year, there was just never an opportunity that presented itself.

But last night Christian and I took full advantage of the fact that my parents were in town and spent the night in Chicago. I was excited to see the river dyed green for St. Patrick's Day (which was pretty cool!!) although I must admit I was saddened for the future of our country in the process. Surrounded by eons and eons of drunkards (those that were clearly in their late 20s and 30s, not just college aged kids!) made me fear for the lack of leadership and desire to grow-up from people that should clearly be out of "that stage". Not to mention that I am 35+ weeks pregnant and felt very out of place! But, I digress...

Back to mine and Christian's night out, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner out at Frontera Grill, a Rick Bayless restaurant that Christian has been really wanting to try. We definitely overate, and the 1 1/2 mile walk back to our hotel was a bit of an uncomfortable walk at times...but well worth it:) We had had a busy day, including a 3 mile run in the morning (that's right - 35+ weeks, and running a 5K in 29:17...not too shabby:)) and retired to our room early to avoid late night chaos, watching basketball and falling asleep far too soon. But how nice to awake in the morning on our terms and enjoy a nice breakfast out without tending to Micah. Don't get me wrong, we definitely missed him, and called to check in - only once, believe it or not, but we are very thankful for our night out!

Thank you Nana Kay and Papa C for being on Micah duty for 24 hours, giving me and my husband a nice night away to refresh, prior to the arrival of baby #2 (due to arrive one month from tomorrow).

Momma and Micah :)

We have been enjoying the (almost too) nice weather this past week, getting outside much more than we've been for the past few months. My mom was up for a few days this past week, and we thoroughly enjoyed time with Nana Kay. One night, after dinner, Micah and I chose to spend a little time on the deck...thus the pictures below:)

Mr. Cool

Micah always talks about "sun in eyes" in the car, so when I finally caved and bought him kid sunglasses, I was sure he would love them and it would make all the difference! Well, he likes them and you can tell he thinks he's pretty cool when he puts them on, but that only lasts a few minutes...thus leaving us with the "sun in eyes" conversation quite frequently on car rides.

While at it, I wanted to post a couple of other pics that I took today. The latest addition to our house is the table below. I went to IKEA yesterday to return a mattress, seeing that we won't be needing the bunk beds for Micah's "big boy" room for quite a while, and picked up a kid table in the process. It originally looked like this but when I took it out of the box, I decided to paint it white (given our recent painting experience with the crib). It was a small project, but I'm definitely pleased with the outcome, and excited that Micah has his own place to sit and work on various art activities.

Seriously, what a sweet smile! A little blurry because it's from my phone, but so sweet.

Spring is on its way:)

What a beautiful day!!! High of 65 degrees, and we took full advantage (despite the crazy winds that almost blew us over). We even visited the park, which was the first time in a long time, and it was really fun to see how confident Micah's become from the playground hiatus.

Speaking of confidence, Micah climbed up this contraption 3 or 4 times, by himself!! I couldn't believe he was actually able to do it - what a big boy!

Cheese!!

This post goes out to Aunt Kari...a nephew after her own heart:)

C squared

Ignore the bed head from the pictures that follow, but Micah has really done a great job in the last month learning his colors and working on coloring pictures. I would say Micah learned his colors in about a week's time, and knew them by the end of January (which would make it 20 months - I want to make sure I have that time frame written down:)). His coloring consists of Elmo and Oh-Ah (Curious George).

The second part of that C squared is counting. I have a video from last week that I have tried multiple times to upload, and it just won't work, so you'll have to take my word for it...but I was able to get Micah counting and you can very clearly hear "eight, nine, ten". Now, although we thought we had a boy genius on our hands, we have realized over the week that he's not quite as with-it as we thought:) Currently he counts like this: "one, two, four!" Everything is equivalent to four, and three doesn't really exist right now...in time, right? But he is able to grasp the idea of multiples, and although he's clearly working on counting we still have aways to go.

I know I've mentioned this on numerous posts, but it is such a joy as a parent to watch your child grow and learn. He's such a sponge right now, and I'm pretty sure it will just continue on as he ages and grows. I seriously am loving every stage of that parenthood journey...and only hope I can say that as we are about to bring another little boy into our family! How blessed we are.

Baby's Crib

Christian and I were fortunate enough to come across a free crib for our upcoming addition - and who can turn that away? We knew Micah was not ready for the twin bed we got him yet, but I really didn't want to buy another crib knowing that Micah probably won't be in it that much longer. So when we came across the free crib, we couldn't say no. The only problem was that it was in a honey color (which was very nice! just not what we were looking for) and we decided we wanted to paint it white.

We are not typically big DIY people, but decided this would be a good experience. I sanded the crib, and Christian primed and painted it. I definitely realized, after Christian began his part of the project, that I didn't sand as well as I had hoped...but I think we're both satisfied enough with the completed crib. It will be baby's crib until Micah grows out of his, and then we will make the switch. We are still pleased, however, for the job we did and think it will be a fine crib for the time frame we plan on using it.

My sanding attempts.

Christian at work in the garage.

Final outcome - yay!!

Baby's room still has a bit to go, but it certainly feels nice to have the crib put together and makes the prospect that we will be bringing a baby home in a little over 6 weeks a bit more of a reality...can't believe it's coming so soon!!